Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant red hot pokers is to look at the USDA zone info for Morton.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Red Hot Pokers do well in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Morton is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your red hot pokers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your red hot pokers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Morton. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Morton and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Morton last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your red hot pokers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Morton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Morton

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Morton.